Ride the tempest, tame the waves
by Dantes-Silent-Huntress
Summary: As young noble Lillian Ashcroft prepares to die, she meets an unlikely ally in a demon... Of course, this is not without its problems. She soon finds herself in the middle of a vicious fight between her abusive father, Earl Phantomhive and Earl Trancy all the while trying to find out who tried to kill her.


**Welcome to the wonderful world of DSH! Now in Kuroshitsuji flavour! I can't promise that this fic will be updated regularly at the current moment, as I still need to finish two others but I can't help myself. I have an idea and it must be written! So, here we are!**

**Kuroshitsuji does not belong to me. I do however, own a small collection of models. Anything you do not recognise from the manga or anime belongs to me, especially my own darling butler.**

** And finally, as I do with almost everything I write, cyber cookies for anyone who can guess what kind of demon my OC is ;) have fun! I feel like I've given plenty of hints, even her name!**

**Also, I have a Facebook page specifically for my fanfiction:**

**wwwDOTfacebookDOTcom/groups/455947181161377/# **

**That will tell you updates on progress, or if you want to have a rant at me or if you just want to talk, its all fine with me.**

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Hopelessness, the bitter ragged taste that tore us demons from our dark retreats. Anger, the spice that enticed us to have a sip, just a taste. Purity, the rarest of all dressings, sweet and sour that attached us onto that poor, unfortunate soul. I felt no pity for them, none deserved it, they were nothing but a meal to me, something to be devoured. Only the most delectable were kept, feeding them until the final tang of revenge was added, then the soul was consumed by us creatures. Those kind of souls could feed us for centuries until we needed to hunt out another. I had found such a child, stuffed down a back alley, holding onto the thin thread that is life.

Her beautiful blonde hair was matted in clumps, tangled with fluids that even I did not wish to know the origins of. Her blue eyes were half-lidded by pain, the colour slowly fading away, the gleaming dulled down until spark of life had almost entirely gone out. Then she saw me, I could tell the exact moment, as she gave a weak struggle as if to escape. Useless, she was already caught in the strong undercurrent of death, dragged out to sea like a tiny helpless fish. I could imagine that I must have been quite a frightening sight then and was somewhat glad that her attackers had been careful enough to hide her in this desolate spot. My eyes were pure ebony, not a spot of white showing, yet when I locked eyes with her, iris' were distinguished, white flooded the edges and black turned to bright pink and red, flaring with the fires of hell itself, a slitted pupil observing the young girl. Silvery locks of hair fell over my face as I turned to an uncomfortable form that she would be more accepting of.

"You are in the throes of death," I stated, crouching down and reaching out a single clawed finger to tilt her head towards me, the struggling had stopped now as she listened to what I said. "There is not much time left, but I can offer revenge - a new life. A chance to get back at those who have wronged you." Eagerness filled those sky-blue eyes and I sighed, she had yet to hear the terms of the contract, "However, in return for my help in seeking your almost murderers, when our contract is completed, I shall devour your soul. Know this, a soul that belongs to a demon will never see the gates of heaven, so what do you say? Will you do it?"

Her eyes widened by the tiniest degree and I knew that she was the god-fearing kind, yet she had a streak of delicious stubbornness in her that refused to let her wither away whilst her killers ran free. She spoke in my head then, the barest tiniest whisper that sent shivers through me at how purely innocent it sounded. A tinkling bell in my mind.

_I accept._

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So it came to be that I became the head butler to the lowly nobles of the Ashcroft household. They were not terribly well known and preferred to stay away from the general rabble of everyday life, it projected itself upon the manor as well, an establishment in which my mistress stated that I had 'taken to like a fish to water.' Silly human phrase that meant nothing to me. However, I was rather taken by this huge building, perched precariously upon the point of a cliff bordering the sea. It was not a day away from London by coach, even less by rail so a comfortable distance from society. The cliff had two larger flat areas upon it, on the lower ridge, sat the Ashcroft manor in all its glory, the a vertical face up to the next area, which was significantly small and only accessible by a thin footpath spiralling up to it. The second ridge protected the manor from the harsh sea winds and waves, curling three-quarters of the way around the house, leaving open the way to and from.

My mistress had laughed at me when she had found me atop the second peak, seated upon the craggy edge of the cliff, no fear for an accidental fall. She had no fear either, believing that I would save her, should she slip... Of course, she was correct, it would do no good to me to lose my meal. She peeked over the side, then quickly withdrew from it, the scent of terror causing me to inhale more deeply.

"You seem to be quite enamoured with the sea, don't you?" She asked in her jingling bell voice, far too lovely to compare with a demon, even a female demon such as I.

"Indeed, my mistress, it is as wild and turbulent as the vast seas of my realm, but much more lively and vibrant, I can feel it sing to my heart," I replied, glancing at her before gazing back to the grey waters below. It was not an unpleasant day, but dark clouds stormed the horizon, telling of rain and choppy waters. The silence remained between us, the only noise being the sound of her dress crumpling as she sat upon the grass and stone. She broke me out of my trance by speaking to me once more.

"I do apologise for the males clothing, but my father has no need for yet another female servant... Or so he says, so I've had to disguise you. I suppose you can do the rest yourself?" I murmured my assent, "Oh! And I do believe we will have to name you!" She squealed with girlish delight as I turned to look at her - dark, stormy grey eyes meeting hers, the pupil almost barely discernible from the rest - yet even they did not distract her from her excitement.

"I'm afraid I already have a name mistress, they call me Mako," I stood and bowed to her, "Now, my lady, I fear you have been gone too long from your father and if we are not back soon, I fear he will believe you have fallen to the waves, hold on tightly," I scooped her up into my arms, cast one last longing glance to the sea, then leaped from the ridge, down to the manor below. The scent of adrenaline then assaulted my nostrils, just as my feet hit the ground, my knees bending to absorb the impact, it seemed my mistress was scared of heights.. As if I would ever drop her. Just as we were about to enter the rear entrance to the manor, my lady stopped me and I carefully set her down. She came up to my chest, or thereabouts, so I was playing as an awfully short man.

"This is an order, Mako, you must not react to anything my father does to me. I order you not to. Right, that's it? You can't do it now?" I was curious, but bowed low, dropping onto one knee.

"Whatever my mistress asks of me." Even though I was so terribly curious as to why she would ask such a thing, my demonic aesthetics didn't allow any deviation from her orders... Or maybe they did. Maybe I would just wait and see. With a quick check to make sure that the band holding my breasts in was tight enough, we set off indoors.

We first met the maid, a tiny woman with hair the colour of peaches, smiling at us with thin lips and violet eyes. My mistress called her Grace and seemed to be quite friendly with the woman, eyes sparkling with delight as she charged towards her and flew into her arms. Grace gave a delighted cry of "Lillian!" Before swinging the girl around then setting her down. My mistress - whom I now knew to be called Lillian - skipped off once more. I nodded to the woman, but she eyed me warily. There was both the cook and the gardener as well, two woman who were seemingly ecstatic to see their young mistress. The gardener was a tough, brutish woman named Stella, who had a cigarette hanging from the side of her mouth, blue eyes shining as she saw us. I was amazed her long hair didn't catch fire with the way her cigarette hung out of her mouth, the ashes floating freely away. Finally, we met the last of the Ashcroft servants, Lola. Lola was a strange kind of woman, small, thinly built with black hair and muddy brown eyes. She was incredibly nervous and twitchy around everyone - even my mistress - her eyes constantly searching for danger and she wasn't able to stand in the same spot for more than a couple of seconds. Her face was covered in bruises, both newer bluish ones mixing with yellowing old ones, all of which looked painful. I stepped forward to ask if she was okay, but was quickly stopped by my mistress, holding a hand out in front of me. She scurried over to the woman, clasping her in a gentle embrace, murmuring sweet words to her about how it would be alright, how her father wouldn't be in charge much longer. I stood, motionless as she continued to speak.

Eventually, we made our way to her fathers study. I could feel his presence from the other side of the door and assumed my correct butlers position, opening the door, letting my mistress through first before following her into the room.

The room was empty.

The aura that filled the large room was being supplied by nothing, there was no huge bear of a man filling up the leather chair. There was not a thing out of place by the looks of things except an open letter on the desk and a letter opener in the back of the door. It appeared that someone had a temper. Strolling over to the desk, I picked up the crisp white paper with the two neat folds, reading down it, I silently handed it to my mistress who's eyes widened in shock.

_Lady Ashcroft,_

_ I leave this mansion to you for a week as I must see to some business with Earls Trancy and Phantomhive. When I come back, we shall discuss in great detail about this new 'butler' you have hired. Don't even think about running, you know I'll find you, ungrateful brat. Until then, keep the bitch in line and don't do something stupid like fall off the cliff, you are the only heir I have._

_ Your father, The Lord Ashcroft._

Tears streaked down her face as she re-read. She then turned to me and threw her arms around my neck, pulling me down to her. Startled, I snarled and tried to pull back. No predator likes to be pulled about, especially not one of my kind, there's nothing else large enough in my habitat to do any real damage to me.

"He's gone, for a whole week!" She cried happily, but I was confused, should a father not be a caretaker? So, one to be loved?

"Mistress, you would enjoy the absence of your father?"

I was expecting an answer, but I was not expecting her to turn around and to drop the top half of her dress... I reeled back in disgust, even a demon would do no such thing to a pup! My stomach churned and I turned around for the first time in my long, long life, away from the brutality.

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**I'm only introducing my characters for now really. Like I said at the start, cyber cookies for whoever guesses what kind of demon she is ;) please REVIEW! I live on them! Even if its just a few short words, I love them!**


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